DATE: Friday, November 14, 1997             TAG: 9711120180

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAY LIDINGTON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   43 lines

STATE AAA CROSS-COUNTRY MEET A TOUGH GO FOR TRUCKERS' BOOTH

The Plains was anything but great for Churchland's Benjamin Booth and the rest of the South Hampton Roads runners at the state group AAA cross country meet last week.

A sodden Great Meadows course near the small Northern Virginia town of The Plains hosted the meet, which saw only two South Hampton Roads runners - Tallwood's Pam Edwards and Cox's Hollie Robinson - finish in the top 20.

Booth, a junior, finished 51st in the boys race, with a time of 17:53, better than nearly two-thirds of the 144 runners entered in the race.

Booth also finished ahead of some select competition. Kellam's Parry Klages finished 74th; Melvin Williams, Norview, 84th; and Eastern Region champ Delano Harris, Granby, 93rd.

``The whole year I was chasing Delano and I beat him where it counts,'' Booth said. ``Hopefully next year I can come back and make all-state.''

Runners were hampered by a soggy and treacherous course that resulted from several days of rain.

``It was unbelievable,'' Booth said. "All the rain, the fields were completely flooded. It was like running in a swamp or something.''

``There was nothing he could do to prepare himself for that,'' said Churchland coach Clarence Brown, who was with Booth at the state meet. ``There's no way to approximate those conditions.

``He started out where he wanted to be. He was out there to run and he left it all on the course.''

Brown, who is also the school's track coach, said he's recruited Booth to run the mile and two-mile races in spring track. A practice session last week was delayed because Booth's gear still hadn't dried out from the state meet two days before.

Brown said he'd like to see Booth break the school record for the mile, 4:25.3, set in the mid-1960s by Wayne Hitchings, who also won the state cross country crown in 1964.

Booth gave up playing the outfield for the school's baseball team this year to pursue distance running and a college scholarship.

``I'd love to go to college,'' he said. ``It's basically the only way to do it anymore. If you want a real job or a career you go to college.''

``The distance running is where his future is,'' Brown agreed.

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